Story 11/12/17
The session started roughly 2 weeks after the events in the L'Boontian mansion. The city of Miradore survived the attempt by the Cult of Orcus to destroy it, but the balance of power is shifting. The L'Boonts have been completely forced out of the city, taking much of the blame for the events that occurred. The Harrows who conspired with them, tried to play dumb in the wake of the destruction. They have lost territory to the Belloters and the Meddas. The Abbeys also conspired with the L'Boonts, but they defected early and even assisted in the siege of the L'Boontian mansion, so they have more or less maintained their territory. The Oreliks have taken some of the L'Boontian district, but the remainder of the L'Boontian district is under dispute right now, with grain/food prices rising as a result. The Meddas have emerged as the new dominant family in the city, and they are making a power grab at the dock space once owned by the L'Boonts. They are also doing a lot of wheeling and dealing with the other families. They don't appear to be doing anything particularly nefarious, but they are taking advantage of the power vacuum. During the 2 weeks off, Monashe the Sentinel went on a spiritual journey and learned more about herself and her fallen spirit animals, and was reborn as Lunashe the Druid. Klon also went on a spiritual journey, and returned with much heavier armor and a raven on his shoulder that sqwaks. The leader of the Meddas, Zandyr, decided to host a 3 day tournament to honor the group and celebrate the saving of Miradore. Champions from each house, as well as a bunch of nearby cities such as Thalsted and Saltglen were invited. There were 8 groups of 2 competing in a tournament style bracket. Each member would have a ritual cast on them to prevent them from dropping below 1 health, then fight to the death in an arena. The first day was fairly uneventful, with a lot of the pretenders being eliminated, and only the contenders remaining. Team 1: Jyun champion - Razzil, a halfling alchemist sitting atop a giant ogre with giant blades. Belloter chamption - The Sacred One - a quiet warrior who sacrifices his own life to imbue his spears with fire, constantly talks about making sacrifices for his gods. Team 2: Abbey champion - Yurnero, a samurai with a mighty sword who dashes around the battlefield with quick slashes Medda champion - Bradwarden, an actual centaur who is a veteran of the arena Team 3: Harrow champion - Lanaya, a quiet woman in an assassins creed style outfit Thalsted champion - Tresdin, a brutish woman who focuses on 1 enemy and destroys them Team 4: Orelik champion - Rizzcrank, dwarf who thinks his family was killed by trees, created a contraption of saw blades to kill all the trees Saltglen champion - Banehallow, an actual werewolf who can summon other wolves to fight along side him Zandyr is throwing a big feast each night to celebrate the tournament, and the group are the main guests of honor. At the feast, a lot of back door politics is occurring, but the mood is generally positive. Khaelis leaves the head table to talk to Rizzcrank, and learns the dwarf is actually batshit crazy, and loves wood because it signifies the death of a tree. He also talks to Tresdin, who turns out to be very tough, and not interested in him. After earning a modest amount at the gambling hut, Beorn starts to engage Zandyr about creating a neutral zone not controlled by the families. Zandyr brushes the request off, and seems entirely unimpressed with the idea. Erevan is getting drunk... again. Zandyr begins to address the audience, thanking them for coming to the tournament, and promoting Miradore in general, with the occasional subtle ploy to promote Medda services. Bradwarden had gotten very drunk, and Yurnero eventually gets up on his table and stabs his sword into a roasted pig on the table. He accuses the group of being fake heroes, that they didn't actually do much during the siege of the L'Boontian mansion, and if they did help, they did so with trickery and fake gestures. Beorn and Khaelis call him out, and offer to fight them right in the hall. The samurai and the centaur back down, and claim that true honor is determined in the arena, where you can't have trickery. Beorn and Khaelis offer to enter the tournament, but Yurnero and Bradwarden get out of it by saying the teams are already set, and leave the hall embarrassed. After seeing the incident, Tresdin grabs Khaelis by the armor, sweeps his leg and sits him down in front of her. He begins to make conversation, but she tells him to not push it. Zandyr tries to calm the crowd and recover from the incident, and invites the group the Medda mansion to present them a gift for saving the city. The group follows him, and find themselves in an ornate treasure room with hundreds of treasure chests. They eventually choose a wing, a side, a row and a box. The box is covered in gold etching and elaborate gemstones. They open the box, and there is a ragged piece of parchment in it with a shimmer to it. Zandyr is embarrassed, and says that isn't a treasure, and he doesn't know how it got there. He lets them open the box next to it, which contains the magic orb of a famous fortune teller, worth about 1500g. The parchment contains a bunch of weird runic symbols, and a bunch of seemingly scrambled letters along the bottom. Klon puts on the Serevictus, and the letters unscramble, and he learns that they read - Klon, Erevan, Aeowyn, Lunashe, Beorn, Khaelis, Ecrozahr! Erevan casts Identify on the parchment, and learns that is has a custom, extremely powerful protection spell on it. He learns that if 6 words are spoken by 6 people, the spell unlocks and the parchment will be readable. The group passes it around each saying a different word to it, and it unlocks, but not quite in the way/order they expected. The parchment reads: The seven demons of the fallen one have mastered the seven dark arts. The seven heroes will die alone in each of the seven planes without the power, Gather the seven artifacts of the wizard and speak the seven cursed words. Only then will the seven eternals become mortal, and the seven mortals become eternal. The Serevictus, The Tarsius, The Gavialis, The Mayavernix, The Drachma, The Kianarack, The Covotos. - Klon, Erevan, Aeowyn, Lunashe, Beorn, Khaelis, Ecrozahr The group decides to think about that later, and heads back to the banquet. A few people have filed out, but most are still feasting. Beorn and Khaelis negotiate a deal with Razzil and The Sacred One to take their place in the tournament. They will give Razzil 500g, and 75% of any purse winnings. Additionally, they will do a favor for The Sacred One's gods. Beorn also places a bet for 300g on Lanaya and Tresdin. <---------------- Previous Session [[Story 12/10/17|Next Session -------------->]]